Many first-time writers honor some well-intended but misleading advice about how to be an author. The advice usually falls along the vein of: “Anyone can be a writer! All you need to do is just have discipline — write every day, and pretty soon you’ll have your debut novel. After that, reach out to agents and publishers to begin the publishing process. If you work hard and keep at it, success will find you sooner or later!”

Some folks have noticed that so far in 2018, we’ve seemed rather quiet. Perhaps *too* quiet. So we’re here to offer some behind-the-scenes scoops about our year so far and about what we’ve got planned for the rest of the summer and into the cold-weather months.

Have you ever been curious about what it takes to grow from “curious about publishing” to “published author?” Consider signing up for our new brief online course, “Establishing Yourself as a Professional Writer.”

Caffeinated Press is pleased to announce the release of “Isle Royale from the AIR: Poems, Stories, and Songs from 25 Years of Artists-in-Residence.” This collection of essays, poems and songs was edited by Phillip Sterling and features contributions from 18 author and poets and six visual artists.

Behold! National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us. As you get ready to write or revise your magnum opus, your friends at Caffeinated Press—presently embroiled in final line editing, so it’s top of mind—offer a few construction suggestions for you

Caffeinated Press is pleased to announce the release of “Jot That Down: Encouraging Essays for New Writers.” This collection of essays was edited by A.L. Rogers and features contributions from 19 published authors, poets and illustrators.

As a sign of partnership with GLCL — a literary non-profit advancing, promoting and celebrating the literary arts in our community — we’re offering our office space for drop-in writing and editing time.

Whether you’re self-published and need guidance or have been published by a small- or mid-sized press, take comfort in knowing that some strategies — while they’re not guaranteed to sell you even one additional book — have, on balance, proved helpful to other authors looking to grow their sales.

The third installment of our annual house anthology, Brewed Awakenings, will be released this coming October. The reading window for this volume closes on May 31 — so you have plenty of time, and no excuses, for crafting a short story or an essay for submission.

Chris Galford is an author, photographer and journalist with deep roots in West Michigan. His short story, Furniture City, is available in both the print and ebook version of Brewed Awakenings 2. Learn more about this dynamic young man and his craft by visiting galfordchris.com.

The last day of a year that taxed our collective national consciousness draws to a close. Many of us offer a sigh of relief, cut by a sliver of hope that 2017 will prove to be more tranquil and fulfilling. Or at least, marked by less drama and fewer tragedies.

Writing only sometimes features rapid-fire composing then revising, but it always requires getting the story right in your heart so that it fills your head and then flows from your fingers toward the paper — even if it’s through one type hammer at a time.

Although you simply cannot distill creative writing into a proscriptive algorithm — people start in different places, and they learn in different ways — a review of the literature suggests that there’s perhaps too little scaffolding offered to new writers.

Whether the disagreement is sourced in a contractual dispute, or concerns about edits, or in the misinterpretation of a social-media post, authors will inevitably have to engage in some classic dispute-resolution activities.

We’ve come a very long way in a very short period of time. We’re proud of the connections we’re making and of the literary endeavors we’re supporting, although (obviously) it hasn’t always been sunshine and roses.

Caffeinated Press is pleased — giddy, even — to attend this year’s Ann Arbor Book Festival. On Saturday, June 18, from noon until 5 p.m., we’ll be participating as a retail vendor during the downtown street fair.

Writing the Great American Novel isn’t much different from studying a martial art or learning to scuba dive or qualifying for the Boston Marathon: You need a wee bit o’ talent, of course, but success follows from mastery, which follows from putting in the time to advance from novice to expert.

I don’t think there’s a “One Weird Trick” approach to building a writer’s toolkit that will work for everyone. The ways I’ve written in the past don’t work for me today, and today’s method may not work for me a year from now. What’s important is that your infrastructure blend into the background; you should use it, without being aware that it’s there. And when it doesn’t work, change it up.

Although publisher/agent guidelines vary in the specifics, most novel queries require a cover letter, one to three sample chapters and a synopsis. Synopses, however, tend to bedevil early-career writers. They’re presented, usually, as an afterthought, or as some sort of back-of-the-cover tease — and therefore, the synopsis becomes the silent killer of what otherwise could have been a perfect pitch.